Review of Ryanair flight Newcastle → Dublin in Economy

This is not just my first ever flight report, it's also a report of my first ever flight! After always going around western Europe on family holidays and trips with friends by car, boat, train or coach, I'd reached my late twenties having never had the opportunity to fly and even developed a slight fear because of it. But in my area of work there's always the possibility of being required to travel, so I knew it was something I'd probably have to face at some point. So when some of my friends had the idea of visiting Dublin for a weekend I decided to go for it, thinking that the short trip from Newcastle would be an ideal introduction to flying and prepare me a bit better for the prospect of a long haul trip.

After booking the flights online through the Ryanair website, I started to prepare myself, making sure I knew what to expect in a flight with some reading and watching some in-flight videos on Youtube, finding this website in the process.

I'd checked in for both flights online a few days before flying and printed out my boarding passes, although the option to get them on my phone was available. I also paid the £4 seat booking per flight to choose a window seat, rather than have a seat allocated at check in. I decided on seat 23A on the outbound flight and 23F on the return, just behind the wing, hoping for some good views. I only needed one carry on bag for the weekend, so no need to purchase additional checked luggage.

I arrived at Newcastle Airport on the Tyne and Wear Metro system, a direct journey of around 25 minutes from Newcastle Central Station. I went through the short covered walkway connecting the metro station with the terminal building, and straight up the stairs to security, where I found that there were no queues at 9am on a Saturday morning in early April.

After going quickly through security without any waiting, I had an hour or two to spend in the airport and went to browse the shops. Some interesting reading among the top non-fiction books in the bookshop, exactly what a slightly anxious first time flyer needs to see at this point!


Eventually the gate number was called and it's a short walk there from the seating area I was in by the duty free shop. The plane (EI-FOY) arrived just as I got to the gate and took a seat in the waiting room. The internet tells me it was less than a month old.


I boarded the plane through the rear doors and easily found my seat. The new style interior was nice and modern, while seat width and leg room were comfortable enough for a short trip like this. It's easy to see how it could feel too cramped for a flight lasting more than around two hours though.


The flight was reasonably full, but we were delayed from departing for around 20 minutes or so as apparently a couple of passengers were missing. Eventually the problem was resolved and we pushed back ready to taxi to the runway.


After feeling the power of the plane's acceleration down the runway we took off. Despite having done some reading and knowing what to expect, my first takeoff was still a rather disorientating experience.


During the climb there were some good views across Newcastle towards the mouth of the Tyne and the North Sea despite some rather overcast weather, but looking out of the window at this point made me feel a bit disorientated and dizzy so I didn't get a really good look.


Once we levelled off a bit and stopped turning I could appreciate the view a bit better, but it was a bit cloudy over the Yorkshire Dales that morning. It wasn't long though until we reached 28,000 feet, passing over the coast just north of Blackpool.


As it was such a short flight, I didn't bother with the in-flight magazine, newspaper or any refreshments that were available. After only 10 minutes or so at cruising altitude, it was time to start the descent. I'm even starting to enjoy the experience a bit by this point.


Not long to go now, crossing the Irish coast at Howth.


The final approach and landing were the most enjoyable parts of the journey for me, with some good views over Dublin towards the Wicklow Mountains. We landed around half an hour late, after about 50 minutes in the air following our delayed departure. After getting off the plane it was a rather long walk from the Ryanair gates to passport control and the terminal exit, even with the moving walkways.


After an enjoyable weekend in Dublin, I flew back to Newcastle on the Monday morning with Ryanair on flight FR172, this time on another new plane, EI-FRD. This flight was a lot easier for me than the first, and perhaps having nothing to see on the ground for most of the flight due to cloud cover (or that it was a straight climb out of Dublin without any banking) helped keep away any majorly disorientating feelings during the ascent. In the end I didn't take any photos on the return flight due to the cloud - though it would have been nice to have had some good views of North Wales and Liverpool once we were up in the air. The overall return flight experience was much the same as the outbound flight, except this time there were no delays and we touched down in Newcastle about 20 minutes earlier than I was expecting.